Why It Matters

Congress broke with the traditional appropriations process to resolve a historic series of Department of Homeland Security funding lapses, ultimately leaving U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) out of the department's annual spending law and funding them separately through reconciliation.

A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report details how three funding lapses and unprecedented legislative maneuvers left DHS relying on alternative funding sources. A 42-day lapse beginning Oct. 1, 2025, marked the first of three separate funding gaps during the fiscal year. The disruptions forced the Trump administration to rely on reconciliation funds to pay tens of thousands of DHS law enforcement personnel, while Congress ultimately used a reconciliation measure rather than the traditional appropriations process to fund Border Patrol and ICE operations.

The Big Picture

For the 17th time in DHS history, annual appropriations were resolved more than a month after the fiscal year began. During the initial funding lapse, the Trump administration used $10 billion in multiyear reconciliation funding provided the previous fiscal year to pay approximately 70,000 DHS law enforcement personnel, including personnel at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), ICE, the U.S. Secret Service, and Transportation Security Administration federal air marshals.

The House Appropriations Committee reported H.R. 4213, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026, on June 24, 2025, by a vote of 36-27, with $72.61 billion in discretionary budget authority. The House later passed H.R. 7147, a compromise version of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, by a 220-207 vote on Jan. 22. Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Committee did not formally mark up its own measure, although the committee majority released a draft bill and report on Dec. 19, 2025.

P.L. 119-75 was enacted Feb. 3 and extended DHS funding through Feb. 13. When that extension expired on Feb. 14, a third lapse began, lasting until April 30, when P.L. 119-86 was enacted. That law funded most of DHS but did not provide annual appropriations for Border Patrol or ICE, an unprecedented split that left those components without funding through the traditional annual appropriations process.

The reconciliation measure P.L. 119-98, signed June 10, provided $69.545 billion for CBP, ICE, and other DHS activities, with the funding generally available through fiscal year 2029. The measure included $31.075 billion for ICE immigration enforcement activities and $9.55 billion to hire, pay, train, and equip Border Patrol agents and support personnel to conduct functions other than immigration enforcement and customs functions. Section 202 also directs at least $350 million toward ICE detainer management, custodial transfers, release monitoring, transportation, and arrests involving certain noncitizens in jurisdictions defined by the law.

The Bottom Line

The provision of operating funds for CBP and ICE through a reconciliation measure that did not go through the appropriations committees was unprecedented. CRS also describes the decision to enact a DHS appropriations law that did not fund all of the department's components as a first, raising questions about how multiyear reconciliation funding will interact with Congress' traditional annual appropriations and oversight process.

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